Kevin Kelly has always had his finger on the pulse of the future. As co-founder of Wired magazine, the preeminent source for how technology affects culture, economy, and politics, and former editor of Whole Earth Review which covers unorthodox technical news, Kelly is an advocate for preparing for what lies ahead, sometimes by looking back. He shares sage insights that are simple but grounded in taking the long view.

We want to bring forth things that our ancestors will thank us for. It’s going to take more than a lifetime to finish, but you begin anyway because civilization will benefit.

From his bits of advice to his celebrated books, publications, and online footprint, Kevin Kelly is investing time and energy into processes and research that will benefit humankind for tens of thousands of years. His efforts include The Long Now Foundation, a cultural institution whose mission is to promote long-term thinking and reframe the notion of time. Projects include a self-sustaining clock embedded in a west Texas mountain built to run for ten thousand years. As a symbol of time, the clock is an iconic reminder to invest in things for the distant future. Says Kelly, “The point is to explore whatever may be helpful for thinking, understanding, and acting responsibly for tens of thousands of years.”

Kelly’s philosophy is that just knowing that things like the clock are possible can suggest even greater ideas. Ideas are his stock-in-trade. With his daily blog Cool Tools and weekly newsletter Recomendo, Kevin Kelly shares thoughts and recommendations on anything that could be considered a “tool”—defined broadly as anything useful.

With another season passing, Kelly reflects, “the only real gift that we have on our short life here is our time, and how we use that time is really far more important than what we say, or what we intend, or what we actually preach.”

There is no question, this future thinker is using his time wisely.